Tennessee fights release of execution team identities

Tennessee fights release of execution team identities

August 13th, 2014by The Tennessean in Local Regional News

State officials on Monday fought to block lawyers for 10 death row inmates from getting information about exactly who will kill their clients.

Appearing before the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Nashville, attorneys for the state argued that Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Claudia Bonnyman improperly ordered them to reveal the names of the lethal injection team that would execute prisoners. Bonnyman's ruling came in a lawsuit involving 10 death row inmates suing for more information about who would execute them and the drugs that would end their lives.

"We are here today because for the first time in the history of lethal injection in the state of Tennessee a court has ordered the state to disclose the identities of those people who are involved in the lethal injection process," said Special Assistant Attorney General Kyle Hixson. "This is an abuse of discretion."